Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today July 16
1952
Stewart Copeland is born, the drummer who put reggae in rock's DNA
On July 16, 1952, Stewart Copeland was born in Virginia — son of a CIA officer, raised in the Middle East, founder of The Police. His nervous hybrid of reggae, punk and surgical precision defined the band's sound as much as Sting's voice. Rock's most famous hi-hats are his, as is much of the creative tension that made the trio great.
Stewart Copeland
The Police
1941
Desmond Dekker is born: the first Jamaican to top the British chart
On July 16, 1941, Desmond Dacres was born in Kingston. He was working as a welder when he badgered a producer until he got an audition. In 1969 "Israelites" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the American top ten: the first Jamaican song to manage it, four years before Bob Marley signed to Island. He sang in thick patois about a labourer rising at dawn and nobody could make out the words, but it made no difference.
Desmond Dekker
1948
Rubén Blades is born: the lawyer who turned salsa into literature
On July 16, 1948, Rubén Blades was born in Panama City. He arrived in New York with a law degree and entered the Fania label working in its mail room. With "Siembra", recorded alongside Willie Colón in 1978, he made the best-selling salsa album in history and brought songs with characters, twist endings and political critique onto the dancefloor. "Pedro Navaja" runs seven minutes and tells an entire film. He later studied at Harvard and ran for president of Panama.
Rubén Blades
1966
Cream is born: three virtuosos invent the supergroup
On July 16, 1966, Cream was officially formed, uniting Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. It was the first supergroup in rock history: three musicians already established in the British blues scene who decided to play together as equals. Their blend of electric blues, psychedelia and improvisation paved the way for the hard rock to come. In barely two years and four albums they changed forever the scale of ambition of the trio format.
Cream
Eric Clapton
1981
Harry Chapin dies, the songwriter who gave away half his concerts
On July 16, 1981, Harry Chapin died in a traffic accident in New York at 38, on his way to a free concert. The author of 'Cat's in the Cradle' and 'Taxi' donated the proceeds of half his shows to fighting hunger, activism that earned him a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal. A storyteller-songwriter and philanthropist before it was fashionable.
Harry Chapin
1923
Bola Sete is born: the Brazilian Dizzy Gillespie discovered in a hotel bar
On July 16, 1923, Djalma de Andrade was born in Rio de Janeiro, a guitarist nicknamed Bola Sete. He arrived in the United States in 1960 and was playing a San Francisco hotel bar when Dizzy Gillespie happened to hear him and invited him to the Monterey Festival. From there he made records where choro and samba crossed jazz and classical guitar, without asking permission of any of the three traditions.
Bola Sete
Dizzy Gillespie
1939
William Bell is born: the first solo voice Stax ever had
On July 16, 1939, William Bell was born in Memphis. In 1961 he recorded "You Don't Miss Your Water" and gave Stax its first hit with a solo singer, back when the label still lived on instrumentals. The army pulled him out of music at exactly the wrong moment. On his return he co-wrote "Born Under a Bad Sign" for Albert King, later cut by Cream, Hendrix and half the world. In 2017, aged 77, he finally won his first Grammy.
William Bell
Albert King
1962
The Beach Boys sign with Capitol: surf enters the big leagues
On July 16, 1962, The Beach Boys signed their first major record deal with Capitol Records. The Wilson brothers' band was coming off a regional hit with 'Surfin'' on a small label, and the jump to a major changed their destiny. That year Capitol would release 'Surfin' Safari' and turn the sound of California's beaches into a national phenomenon. From that signing came the machinery that would carry Brian Wilson to the creative peak of 'Pet Sounds'.
The Beach Boys
1990
Wizkid is born: the Nigerian who put afrobeats on the world's radio
On July 16, 1990, Ayodeji Balogun was born in Lagos. He recorded his first album at eleven, singing in a church choir. As Wizkid he became the face of afrobeats, the Nigerian pop that dominated West Africa through the past decade. In 2016 his feature on Drake's "One Dance" became the most streamed song in Spotify's history to that point, and opened the global market to half the Lagos scene.
Wizkid
Drake
2012
Farewell to Jon Lord, the organ that roared like a guitar
On July 16, 2012, Jon Lord died at 71, co-founder of Deep Purple and architect of its sound. His distorted Hammond organ, roaring as an equal alongside Ritchie Blackmore's guitar, defined the hard rock of 'Smoke on the Water' and 'Highway Star'. Trained in classical music, he built unprecedented bridges with his 1969 'Concerto for Group and Orchestra'. Gone was one of the few keyboardists who changed the history of a genre dominated by guitars.
Jon Lord
Deep Purple
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